Hamburger wars: Fox & Friends declares Athens TX winner over New Haven CT

[CTyankee]

http://zwire.townnews.biz/site/news.cfm?notn=1&ncdr=1&newsid=17724703&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7576&rfi=6&nc=1

Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy has declared Athens TX as having invented the hamburger, over New Haven, CT's contention for the title.

Anyone visiting New Haven quickly learns that the country's first hamburger was served at Louis Lunch, a fixture in this town since about 1900. The little burger place is still family owned and operated (fourth generation of family that founded it).The burgers are still cooked vertically and served between two slices of bread. Tomato and onion, but no ketchup (and don't ask!)are served with it.

Now Athens TX has come in with its own documentation for their burgers being the first. But New Haven mayor John DeStefano was able to get in some gentle needling about G.W. Bush being born in New Haven, although he prefers to keep that quiet.

[NewJeffCT]

1. well, if Fox decided it

it must be right.

:sarcasm:

[CTyankee]

5. I guess that New Haven will have to muddle through somehow!

What a blow! Do you think New Haven can ever recover?

[lapfog_1]

2. Which city has German immigrants?

Hamburg, Germany... Hamburger. Coincidence? No, not according to the History channel. Hamburgers are not American, but german, just as a "Sandwich" is named after an English Earl.

[Bukowski Fan]

3. They're not called hamburgers

They're liberty steaks!

[CTyankee]

4. It is possible that Athens TX has German immigrants.

I am a current New Haven resident, born in Texas. I had family, by marriage, in a little town southwest of Dallas called New Braunfels, who were 2nd generation German immigrants, as was a lot of the town. There was a fuss about kids in school who would go home for lunch and come back with beer on their breath. It was interesting!

[Gruenemann]

10. Lots of 19th century German immigration to Texas

My German ancestors started arriving in Texas in the 1840s. Some Germans might have ended up in Athens, but most tended to settle in the center of the state. Many were atheists, socialists, and draft evaders, although their descendants are largely right wing fundamentalist war mongers.

[Cobalt-60]

6. If Faux says Athens

then the true answer must be New Haven.
Though I'm sure somewhere in Europe beef must have hit the grinder decades or even centuries before 1900.
It probably started like this.
"Oskar, we're out of beef sausage casings!"

[meegbear]

7. USA Today say it's between Madison Wisconsin and Athens Texas ...

But the outcome would be the same ...

<snip>

A Wisconsin state lawmaker is firing back with a resolution declaring Seymour, Wis., population 3,335, the hamburger's home. "Seymour is the hamburger capital, period," says state Rep. Tom Nelson, a Democrat.

Texas state Rep. Betty Brown, a Republican, says there's nothing rare about her hamburger history.

<snip>

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-01-17-foodfight_x.htm

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. How positively refreshing that there isn't any REAL news for Faux to report n/t

[youthere]

11. Like it would matter to Faux even if there were.

[mitchleary]

9. That louis lunch is a cool looking place and definitely old

I saw it on a documentart called "Hamburger America" where they profile 8 unique hamburgers across the US. The billy goat is on there as well, the joint made famous in SNL's "hamborger, chips, no coke, pepsi" skit.


There are many other neat ones as well. If you have time, check it out. I think I saw it on IFC or Sundance.